Two Britons shot dead in Somalia

Two Britons were last night shot dead in Somalia, the Foreign Office said today.

Police said that the pair, who were both teachers working for aid organisation, were killed by unidentified gunmen while they watched television in their sitting room in the school.

According to police, the two were based in the breakaway republic of Somaliland, in north-west Somalia.

A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed that two British nationals had been shot and killed, but said no further details were available.

Officials were in the process of informing the next of kin, the spokesman added.

Earlier this month, an Italian doctor, Annalena Tonelli, was shot dead outside the charity tuberculosis hospital she ran in Somaliland.

In a joint letter to the Guardian, Luciano Pavarotti, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and winners of the UN's Nansen Refugee Award, of which Dr Tonelli had been a recipient, called for greater protection for aid workers.

"Contempt for human life in general, and for the lives of aid workers in particular, results inevitably in fewer and fewer individuals being prepared to do humanitarian work in the toughest areas of the world," they wrote.

Somalia has been without an effective central government since long-time dictator Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991 by rival warlords, who then fought for power.

Much of the country was plunged into a long civil war. While enclaves such as Somaliland are more stable than the areas around the capital, Mogadishu, further south many Somalis continue to rely on charities and aid groups for health care and education.

The Foreign Office advises against all travel to southern Somalia and parts of Somaliland.